BBC Symphony Orchestra on Tour #3

BBC Symphony Orchestra sub-principal viola Phil Hall reports from the orchestra's Far East tour, which has now reached South Korea ... 

Arriving in South Korea's capital city of Seoul can seem daunting - lots of concrete apartment blocks with 'Samsung' or 'Hyundai' emblazoned on them and large numbers stamped on the outside; workers' flats you would think, and thousands of them. Yet they belong to the well-off: height is might. it would seem. But the work ethic is clear: they are one of the biggest car exporters on earth although I think, judging from the heavy traffic, it seems that they are equally popular here.

We disembark at the Imperial Palace hotel in Gangnam district (no crazy dancing please). It is ridiculously large, like a Soviet relic with fountains in the lobby and dripping with upholstery that would not be out of place in Versailles.

I seek some solace from this surfeit of wood panelling in a local restaurant that has no chairs. It is a Sunday and full of families, some with small children which, at this point of the tour, provides a timely reminder of home (not that my children are small or eating off the floor but you know what I mean). After way too much Kim-chi we roll ourselves upright and investigate the nearby 15th-century Joeson dynasty tombs - an oasis of calm in a pine forest. General Manager Paul Hughes assumes the role of Gatekeeper:

Sometimes on tour the concert halls merge into one vague memory but the Seoul Arts Centre stands out - it is vast. I am amazed at how many people it holds and also at the hordes who have come for an entirely English music programme. Viola players aside, I wonder how many Brits would turn out to hear the Walton viola concerto? But the Koreans seem to love it, and don't let Korean-American violist Richard Yongjae O'Neill go until he has made 6 or 7 curtain calls and played a simple Korean folksong as an encore. They don't let us go easily either; after lapping up the Enigma Variations, Andrew Davis has to announce both of the encores and the audience duly goes wild for Elgar's Wild Bears; I have seldom heard such a roar outside of the Proms.